• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.104-113
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• 2020

Background: Accurate intraoperative assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes is a critical aspect of lung cancer surgery. The efficacy and potential for upstaging implicit in these dissections must therefore be revisited in the current era of uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in which 544 patients with stage I (T1abc-T2a, N0, M0) primary lung cancer were analyzed. To assess risk factors for nodal upstaging and to limit any imbalance imposed by surgical choices, we constructed an inverse probability of treatment-weighted (IPTW) logistic regression model (in addition to non-weighted logistic models). We also evaluated risk factors for early locoregional recurrence using IPTW logistic regression analysis. Results: In the comparison of uniportal and multiportal VATS, the resected lymph node count (14.03±8.02 vs. 14.41±7.41, respectively; p=0.48) and rate of nodal upstaging (6.5% vs. 8.7%, respectively; p=0.51) appeared similar. Predictors of nodal upstaging included tumor size (odds ratio [OR], 1.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-2.70), carcinoembryonic antigen level (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.04-1.18), and histologically confirmed pleural invasion (OR, 3.97; 95% CI, 1.89-8.34). The risk factors for locoregional recurrence within 1 year were found to be number of resected N2 nodes, age, and nodal upstaging. Conclusion: Uniportal and multiportal VATS appear similar with regard to accuracy and thoroughness, showing no significant difference in the extent of nodal dissection.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.213-221
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• 2007

This study was designed to investigate the correlation between the expression rate of p53 and p21 proteins, c-erbB-2 oncoprotein and $TGF-{\beta}1$ and tumor prognostic factors in colon cancer including the tumor size, histological differentiation and Dukes' stage. The expression rate of p53 protein was 11.4% (4 cases) at well differentiation, 48.6% (17 cases) at moderately differentiation, and 17.1% (6 cases) at poorly differentiation. In other words, the poorer differentiation, the higher the expression rate of p53 protein (P<0.05). The expression rate of p21 protein was 17.1% (6 cases) at well differentiation, 40.0% (14 cases) at moderately differentiation, and 8.6% (3 cases) at poorly differentiation, indicating that, as the histological malignant degeneration progressed, the expression rate of p21 protein decreased distinctively (P<0.05). However, the correlation of the above mentioned proteins with tumor size and Dukes' stage was not recognized. The expression rate of c-cerbB-2 oncoprotein was 11.4% (4 cases) at well differentiation, 54.3% (19 cases) at moderately differentiation, and 17.1% (6 cases) at poorly differentiation, indicating that the poorer differentiation, the higher expression rate of c-erbB-2 oncoprotein (P<0.05). The expression rate of $TGF-{\beta}1$ was 17.1% (6 cases) at well differentiation, 48.6% (17 cases) at moderately differentiation, and 11.4% (4 cases) at poorly differentiation. As Dukes' stage progressed, the expression rate of $TGF-{\beta}1$ was 8.6% (3 cases) in stage A, 20.0% (7 cases) in stage B, 37.1 % (13 cases) in stage C, and 11.4% (4 cases) in stage D. There was a difference in expression rates between Dukes' stages (P<0.05). In 10 cases, p53 protein was positive while p21 protein was negative, and in 6 cases, p53 protein was negative whereas p21 was positive (P<0.05). Therefore, a statistically significant inverse correlation between the expression rate of p53 protein and that of p21 protein was observed. In conclusion, since there was a signigicant correlation between histological differentiation of colon cancer and the expressions of p53 and p21 proteins and c-erbB-2 oncoprotein, and between Dukes' stage and the expression of $TGF-{\beta}1$, it was conformed that the overexpression of p53 and p21 proteins, c-erbB-2 oncoprotein, and $TGF-{\beta}1$ is closely associated with the occurrence of colon cancer and its progress. Accordingly, this study may be greatly beneficial to the presumption of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of colon cancer patients.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.518-524
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• 2010

A mannanase gene (man26B) was obtained from a sea bacterium, Paenibacillus sp. BME-14, through the constructed genomic library and inverse PCR. The gene of man26B had an open reading frame of 1,428 bp that encoded a peptide of 475- amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 53 kDa. Man26B possessed two domains, a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) belonging to family 6 and a family 26 catalytic domain (CD) of glycosyl hydrolases, which showed the highest homology to Cel44C of P. polymyxa (60% identity). The optimum pH and temperature for enzymatic activity of Man26B were 4.5 and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of Man26B was not affected by $Mg^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$, but was inhibited by $Hg^{2+},\;Ca^{2+},\;Cu^{2+},\;Mn^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+$, and $\beta$-mercaptoethanol, and slightly enhanced by $Pb^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$. EDTA did not affect the activity of Man26B, which indicates that it does not require divalent ions to function. Man26B showed a high specific activity for LBG and konjac glucomannan, with $K_m,\;V_{max}$, and $k_{cat}$ values of 3.80 mg/ml, 91.70 ${\mu}mol$/min/mg protein, and 77.08/s, respectively, being observed when LBG was the substrate. Furthermore, deletion of the CBM6 domain increased the enzyme stability while enabling it to retain 80% and 60% of its initial activity after treatment at $80^{\circ}C$ and $90^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, respectively. This finding will be useful in industrial applications of Man26B, because of the harsh circumstances associated with such processes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.1011-1020
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the material properties of stainless steel 316L specimens of untreated and UNSM treated material, hydrogen attacked material(100 bar, $300^{\circ}C$ at 120 h) and UNSM treated hydrogen attacked material at room temperature. Results demonstrated that the hydrogen attacked materials showed a tendency toward a slightly decreased fatigue strength, while the hydrogen embrittlement effect was smaller than the S-N curve of conventional untreated material. As compared to untreated material, the fatigue limit of the UNSM treated material increased by 43.8%, while it was 57.1％ higher in the UNSM treated hydrogen attacked material than in untreated hydrogen attacked material. The plastic deformation layer was ${\sim}152{\mu}m$ thick, as confirmed by maps showing the level of local plastic deformation affected by the UNSM treatment in three ways: an image quality map, inverse pole figure map, and kernel average misorientation map captured via electron back scatter diffraction. Owing to hydrogen embrittlement, about 90％ of surface cracks were smaller than the average grain size of $35{\mu}m$.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.561-567
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• 2015

This study aims to evaluate the antitumor effect of Adonis multiflora, one of the plants in the Ranunculaceae, on mice to which hepatoma cells were transplanted and to suggest its possibility as a candidate natural substance to replace antitumor drugs. We performed the MTT assay to assess the extract had a decrease in the growth rate of hepatoma cells depending on concentration. In particular, 100 ㎍/㎖ of the extract showed 40% of growth retardation rate. We assessed the autophagy activity to identify the inhibitory autophagy mechanism of tumor cells in the extract. This proved that the activity increases more as the concentration of the extract is higher. We conducted the Western blot test to confirmed the expression of two proteins LC3 and p62. The expression of p62 was in inverse proportion to the concentration of the extract whereas LC3-Ⅱ increased more as the concentration of the extract was higher. This showed that an increase in the autophagy relies on the conentration of the extract. We performed a test to discover the influence of the extracts on hepatoma cells transplanted to mice. The test proved that the extract triggers a significant decrease in the growth rate of tumor cells. Compared to the start of the test, the size of tumor cells with 50, 100 and 200 ㎎/㎏ of the extract respectively increased by 4, 3.7 and 3.5 times whereas in the controlling group by 6.3 times. The size of tumor cells in benign tumor controlling group increased by 3.1 times. This showed a significant decrease in the growth rate of tumor cells compared to the controlling group. We carried out the experiment of influence of the extract on the expression of two proteins LC3 and p62 in the tumor tissue transplanted into mice. The experiment showed that LC3-II increases more as the concentration of the extract is higher. However, there was a rapid decrease in p62 with 200 ㎎/㎏ of the extract compared to the controlling group. In this study, we proved that the autophagy activity of Adonis multiflora extract inhibits the growth of hepatoma cells by in vitro and in vivo experiments. In conclusion, the inhibitory autophagy mechanism of tumor cells in the extract can be used as a new treatment of antitumor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.789-794
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• 2021

Brachytherapy is a treatment in which radioactive isotopes are placed inside the body to intensively irradiate the tumor with radiation. Because brachytherapy uses a radioisotope source with a high dose rate, it is very important to know the exact location and dose of the source. However, in clinical practice, it is evaluated inaccurately with the naked eye through rulers and autoradiographs. Therefore, in this study, a dosimeter that can be used for brachytherapy was developed using a lead(II) iodide (PbI₂) material, and the applicability was evaluated by analyzing the reproducibility, linearity, and PID items. As a result of reproducibility evaluation, the RSD value was 1.41%, satisfying the evaluation criteria of 1.5%. As a result of the linearity evaluation, the R² value was 0.9993, which satisfies the evaluation criterion of 0.9990. As a result of PID evaluation, it showed only a difference of 0.06 cm compared with the theoretical value of the inverse square law of distance at the 50% dose reduction point. The dosimeter manufactured in this experiment shows results that satisfy the standard in all evaluations, so it is judged that the possibility of applying the dosimeter in the radiation brachytherapy area is sufficient.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.65-78
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• 2021

Objectives: This study was aimed to investigate the weight change of the high-risk group and the general maternal group and weight-relating factors in the early postpartum period. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of those who received postpartum care from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, in the postpartum care center affiliated with one Korean Medicine hospital. A total of 257 postpartum women's medical charts were included and divided into the high-risk group and the general maternal group. We investigated the weight changes and Body mass index (BMI) of the postpartum women and compared the difference between the two groups after taking the postpartum care. Finally, we used a Pearson correlation analysis to identify the weight-relating factors in the early postpartum period. Results: All the postpartum women showed the following results; 33.81±4.03 years old as the mean age; 22.23±3.28 as pre-pregnancy BMI; 58.21±9.18 kg of pre-pregnancy weight increased into 70.75±9.70 kg in the last month of pregnancy. Of the total 257 patients, 149 (58.0%) of high-risk pregnancy experience and 108 (42.0%) of general pregnancy were included. The edema index right after childbirth was significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the general maternal group (p<0.001), but there was no significant difference in BMI. After treatment with Korean medicine treatments, body weight, BMI, and edema index decreased significantly in both groups (p<0.01). As a result of correlation analysis, weight gain during pregnancy had a significant negative correlation with pre-pregnancy weight and pre-pregnancy BMI and a significant positive correlation with weight and BMI of the last month of pregnancy. In particular, pre-pregnancy BMI and body weight showed a significant negative correlation only in the high-risk group. Postpartum weight loss was significantly positively correlated with pre-pregnancy weight, pre-pregnancy BMI, weight & BMI of the pregnancy last month, weight gain during pregnancy, and decrease in edema (p<0.01) Conclusions: The weight during pregnancy of the high-risk group increased in inverse proportion to the pre-pregnancy BMI. The level of edema right after childbirth was significantly higher than that of the general maternal group, but showed a significant decrease after 2 weeks of Korean medicine treatments. Although it implicates the need for active Korean medicine treatments in the early postpartum period, further studies with controlled groups are needed.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.124-132
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis) No. 1 was developed for production of bio-ethanol, and for the purpose the silver grass growing sector was established in Geumgang basin, Iksan, Jeonbuk, in 2011. However, the other application potentials except for using as the bio-energy resources should be considered because of the drop in international oil prices. Therefore, there is the necessity of a scientific basis to use the silver grass instead of rice straw as the organic matter source that is used for improvement of soil quality in the plastic film house. METHODS AND RESULTS: The silver grass was applied at 5, 10, 15 and 20 Mg/ha and tilled before the watermelon was planted in the plastic film-house. The control plot was treated with 10 Mg/ha with rice straw, and watermelons have been cultivated for 3 years(2017~2019). Soil aggregation, soil chemistry, and the growth characteristics were investigated, when the watermelon was harvested every year. Soil aggregation levels at the 2nd and 3rd year of watermelon harvest were similar from the plot applied with the silver grass at 5 Mg/ha and the control plot, and increased in the silver grass treated plots with more than 10 Mg/ha. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the plots. The nitrogen mineralization of silver grass in the control plot tended to be similar to the 5 Mg/ha plot, but the silver grass treated plots with over 10 Mg/ha showed low nitrogen mineralization. Soil EC on harvest stage was proportional to the applied mass of the silver grass, but pH was in inverse with the applied mass. Soil organic matter content, available phosphate, and exchangeable cations increased with the continued use of silver grass. Watermelon weight found to be the best on more than 15 Mg/ha of silver grass, and the sugar content was highest when 10 Mg/ha was treated. CONCLUSION: The use of the silver grass at 10 Mg/ha annually as the organic source was effective in replacing rice straw while growing fruits and vegetables on the plastic film house.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.8-15
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• 2003

This study was carried out to investigate the dimensional stability of wood treated with PEG for better utilization of domestic small-diameter logs. Four species of ring- porous wood(Quercus mongolica F_ISCH, Quercus variabilis B_LUME, Fraxinus rhynchophylla H_ANCE, Paulownia coreana U_YEKI,) and four species of diffuse-porous wood(Prunus sargentii R_EHDER, Betula davurica P_ALL, Populus tomentiglandulosa T. L_EE, Cornus controversa H_EMSLEY) were used for this experiment. The shrinkage of wood decreased with increasing the concentration of PEG. The shrinkage of diffuse- porous woods was lower than that of ring-porous woods. The weight gain increased in proportional to the PEG concentration. Diffuse-porous woods showed a little higher weight gain than ring-porous woods. Bulking effect also increased with increasing the PEG concentration, but was in inverse proportional to the molecular weight of PEG. Diffuse-porous woods showed higher bulking effect than ring-porous woods. Consequently, diffuse-porous woods showed better dimensional stability than ring- porous woods. It was considered that dimensional stability was affected by characteristics of wood such as vessel and tylosis, and density.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1084-1098
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Previous research has shown maternal betaine supplementation alleviates fetal-derived hepatic steatosis. Therefore, this study examined the anti-inflammatory effect of maternal betaine intake in offspring mice and its mechanism. MATERIALS/METHODS: Female C57BL/6J mice and their offspring were randomly divided into 3 groups according to the treatment received during gestation and lactation: control diet (CD), fatty liver disease (FLD), and fatty liver disease + 1% betaine (FLD-BET). The FLD group was given a high-fat diet and streptozotocin (HFD + STZ), and the FLD-BET group was treated with HFD + STZ + 1% betaine. After weaning, the offspring mice were given a normal diet for 5 weeks and then dissected to measure the relevant indexes. RESULTS: Compared to the CD group, the offspring mice in the FLD group revealed obvious hepatic steatosis and increased serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, interleukin (IL)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α; maternal betaine supplementation reversed these changes. The hepatic mRNA expression levels of IL-6, IL-18, and Caspase-1 were significantly higher in the FLD group than in the CD group. Maternal betaine supplementation reduced the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing C-terminal caspase recruitment domain (ASC). Maternal betaine supplementation also reversed the increasing protein expressions of nitric oxide dioxygenase-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), ASC, Caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 in offspring mice exposed to HFD + STZ. Maternal betaine supplementation decreased the homocysteine (Hcy) and s-adenosine homocysteine (SAH) levels significantly in the livers. Furthermore, the hepatic Hcy concentrations showed significant inverse relationships with the mRNA expression of TNF-α, NLRP3, ASC, and IL-18. The hepatic SAH concentration was inversely associated with the IL-1β mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS: The lipotropic and anti-inflammatory effect of maternal betaine supplementation may be associated with the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome in the livers of the offspring mice.